Who Were Some Of The Greatest Leaders In The Bible?

Who were among the greatest leaders in the Bible, from the Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelation?

Leaders in the Bible

There is no way that I could possibly cover all of the leaders in the Bible in one article so I will attempt to mention most of the prominent ones. Naturally, Jesus is first and foremost the Leader among leaders as He is King of kings and Lord of lords because in Christ “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Heb 6:19-20) and so “it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering” (Heb 2:10). For this reason, we ought to be “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Heb 12:2) and not focus on any human leader. This doesn’t mean we can’t read and learn from biblical heroes and heroines of the faith but “God has highly exalted [Jesus] and bestowed on him the name that is above every name” (Phil 2:9) and so we must also exalt Him in our lives, our studies, and in our hearts.

Noah

Before God sent His judgment of water against a wicked world because “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen 6:5) but “Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (Heb 11:7) and because of this, “Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen 6:8) and Noah, who lived a righteous life, led his family into the ark and safety.

Abraham

Abraham left home, family, occupation, and everything familiar to him to go to a place that he had never seen, called by a God that he had never known, to do something that he had never done. God simply told him “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (Gen 12:1) so in the beginning, Abraham (then still called Abram) had no idea exactly where he was going; it only says “Abram went” (Gen 12:4a). He didn’t contemplate it and he didn’t consulate with anyone but he simply went! It was all “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Heb 11:8).

Moses

“Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth” (Num 12:3) but meekness does not mean weakness. Meekness is defined as strength under control. It doesn’t mean he’d be a welcome mat so people could wipe their feet on him or walk all over him. Humility and meekness are a necessary requirement for leadership and Moses had both and became identified with the law. Moses left all of the luxuries of Egypt and “considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward” (Heb 11:26). Of Moses it was said “there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel” (Duet 34:10-12).

Joshua

Joshua may have been a great leader because he was mentored by Moses. Joshua must have seen how Moses dealt with the situations that Israel fell into, time after time. Joshua new that obedience to the Lord and believing in Him and having complete trust in God was characteristic of a good and godly leader.

Samuel

Hannah’s womb was closed, even though God was said to have given this godly woman, through her husband’s sacrifice (1st Sam 1:3-4) “a double portion, because he loved her” (1st Sam 1:5). This woman fasted and prayed incessantly and God heard her prayers and “Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the Lord” (1st Sam 1:20). Samuel was one of the greatest prophets of Israel and so “Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord” (1st Sam 3:10-20).

David

David was Israel’s greatest king and he will reign in the coming kingdom of God. God said of David, “I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will” (Acts 12:22) and that’s an essential quality for a leader.

Deborah

Deborah was the only female Judge Israel ever had but she may have been Israel’s greatest but she was also a prophetess (Judges 4:4). When faced by an enemy, Barak, Israel’s commander, would only go up to battle if Deborah went with him and she did (Judges 4:9) and “So on that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel” (Judge 4:23).

Gideon

Gideon, the reluctant leader, “was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites” (Judges 6:11b) because the enemy kept coming in just at harvest time and taking all their food but God worked through Gideon who did exactly what God told him and Gideon and his 300 fighters, by God’s hand, destroyed over 135,000 Midianites.

John the Baptist

I loved John the Baptist’s humility because when he started losing disciples and Jesus’ gaining them he simply said that “He must increase, I must decrease” (John 3:30). Jesus said of John, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matt 11:11). John was a messenger, preparing the way for Christ (Matt 11:10).

Peter

The Apostle Peter went from denying Christ three times during his trial to giving arguably the greatest sermon (next to Jesus’) in the Bible in Acts 2:14-40 and what came as a result of the powerful message? “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41).

Paul

The Apostle Paul was the greatest missionary of the first century church and was possibly the greatest missionary ever. Paul wrote that as servants of God “we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger” (2nd Cor 6:4-5) but little did it matter to this “apostle to the Gentiles” because nothing would compare with the glory that’s going to be revealed to him and to us some great day (Rom 8:18).

John

The Apostle John was the only one who was not martyred and died of natural causes. He was the only one left in the early church that personally knew Jesus as all the other apostles had died out by the end of John’s life but John stayed faithful and wrote his three books (1st, 2nd, and 3rd John) to encourage the church during the severest of persecutions and wrote the Book of Revelation to allow the believers to look ahead toward the coming New Jerusalem (Rev 21, 22), although Jesus Christ was the actual Author of the Book of Revelation as it’s called “the revelation of Jesus Christ” that He gave to John (Rev 1:1).

Conclusion

Jesus Christ is Lord and God has “Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear” (Acts 2:33) and has place Him “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come” (Eph 1:21). There is no leader above the Name that is above all names and that is Jesus Christ; the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and the Leader of all leaders.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.